Rudy Giuliani Takes a Stab at the Democrats

This is a partial transcript from "Hannity & Colmes," July 29, 2004, that has been edited for clarity.

Watch"Hannity & Colmes"weeknights at 9 p.m. ET!

HANNITY COLMES, CO-HOST: Earlier today, Sean had a chance to talk to former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

HANNITY: Here you are in Boston, and you hold this press conference, and I think you have the line of the entire convention here: "I don't need Michael Moore to tell me about Sept. 11."

RUDY GIULIANI, FORMER MAYOR OF NEW YORK CITY (R ): Well, I mean, that's correct. I lived through it, saw it, saw too many friends lose their lives. And to see it reduced to that kind of propaganda, to make money and whatever political point he is trying to make, it's just really difficult. I mean, it's difficult to even contemplate, much less watch.

HANNITY: You know something, I watched Michael Moore walk through the halls of this convention. I don't think I've seen him with less than 15 cameras, 60, 70 people around him. Then you see Joe Lieberman, barely acknowledged here. Zell Miller felt he wasn't even welcome here.

I look at the speaking roster. You've got the Clintons, you got Al Gore, you got Howard Dean, Al Sharpton, and then the number-one liberal in the Senate and the No. 4 liberal in the Senate.

Is there any room for moderation in the Democratic Party?

GIULIANI: Well, they've done a good job of masking that, in terms of the, you know, the late-night presentations. But the rock star of this convention is Michael Moore. I mean, there's no question about it. He's sort of the poet of the convention. He expresses their heart, their soul.

Ninety-five percent of the delegates were against the war before it started; they're against the war now. They're against the idea of military spending. I mean, that's what this convention's all about.

And I think what you're seeing is a makeover. The last thing in the world this convention is going spend any time on is the record of John Kerry and the record of John Edwards. We're going to spend all our time in New York on the record of George W. Bush because we're proud of it.

HANNITY: The speakers at the Republican Convention: You will be there, John McCain will be there, Arnold Schwarzenegger will be there. I'm a conservative in the Republican Party, and you and I have debated social issues; we have some disagreements.

There seems to be a lot more diversity in the Republican Party when you compare the very left-leaning lineup that they've had here. Do you agree with that?

GIULIANI: I agree with that. Our party is going to see the broad array of a political viewpoint, from very conservative to more moderate to — because our party is made up of that. And I think there's a lot more toleration and a lot more willingness to allow that.

I think what you've seen here is very much the left wing of the Democratic Party — dressed up, made over, but a lot of it came through. I mean, John Edwards's speech was Mario Cuomo's speech of 1984.

HANNITY: Yes.

GIULIANI: I mean, maybe it was delivered a little differently, with a Southern accent rather than from New York...

HANNITY: New York accent, right.

GIULIANI: ... and maybe the style was different — both were good in terms of speeches. And both of us give speeches. You have to respect them for being very, very good at making an argument.

But essentially, it's the same speech: two Americas, class warfare, try to attract votes by pitting people against each other. I found that, you know, sort of a throwback to very, very much the left-wing Democratic approach.

HANNITY: But it is amazing to me that if there was a Ted Kennedy and a Hillary Clinton ticket, it would be more conservative than a Kerry- Edwards ticket.

There's a pretty amazing comparison.

When you look at this campaign, traditionally peace and prosperity drive elections. We have the best year of economic growth we've had in 20 years. Obviously, we've liberated 50 million people, between Afghanistan and Iraq.

Things are going well, but the polls show this is a tight race. Why?

GIULIANI: I think people are very concerned. I mean, they're very concerned because we're going through uncharted territory.

You know, since September 11, 2001, America is different. I mean, we've lived through an attack that we've never experienced before, the worst attack in our history. It's understandable that our politics are going to change and that people are going to be a little bit more concerned, a little bit more interested in who's the right leader, who's the correct leader.

But I think, ultimately, that's the thing that's going to bring them to George Bush. Because I think people are going to look for somebody of consistency, someone who can set a course and can stay with it when it's unpopular.

Churchill was one of my heroes. Churchill was speaking out against Hitler when everybody in England wanted to do appeasement...

HANNITY: Five years.

GIULIANI: ... and he was very unpopular. He was castigated in his political party.

Ronald Reagan talked about the evil empire and was ridiculed when he said "evil empire." Ultimately he proved he was correct, and he turned it around.

And George W. Bush said, "We are going to confront global terrorism, and we're going to defeat it." And he has stuck with that when it's been popular, he's stuck with it when it's been unpopular. And I think ultimately that's the thing that's going to elect him.

HANNITY: Mr. Mayor, good to see you again. I bet you're looking forward to getting back to New York.

GIULIANI: Yes, I always do.

Copy: Content and Programming Copyright 2004 Fox News Network, L.L.C. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. Transcription Copyright 2004 eMediaMillWorks, Inc. (f/k/a Federal Document Clearing House, Inc.), which takes sole responsibility for the accuracy of the transcription. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. No license is granted to the user of this material except for the user's personal or internal use and, in such case, only one copy may be printed, nor shall user use any material for commercial purposes or in any fashion that may infringe upon Fox News Network, L.L.C. and eMediaMillWorks, Inc.'s copyrights or other proprietary rights or interests in the material. This is not a legal transcript for purposes of litigation.